0:02

Welcome to the

0:02

bear with me podcast, table

0:05

radio, where we aim to integrate

0:05

belief and practice in the

0:09

Christian life. Hey, welcome, everybody. Right

0:17

now at the table church, we're

0:21

getting back to our roots.

0:21

Right, Vanessa? Yeah, we're

0:25

getting back to our roots. Yeah,

0:25

we're exploring the seven roots

0:29

of the table just to mix up our

0:29

metaphors. Seven roots at the

0:32

table. It's what makes us tick.

0:32

It's who we are. We had these we

0:37

planted the table over 10 years

0:37

ago now. And we've come back to

0:41

him for kind of our 10th

0:41

birthday. So there's seven of

0:44

these that we're exploring.

0:44

We're in the middle of exploring

0:47

them in a season. But it's

0:47

Advent. Yes. And so on the one

0:51

hand, we want to pay attention

0:51

to time, see our last podcast

0:56

for that. And so we're gonna

0:56

take a break from our series to

1:00

give this season of Aven. It's

1:00

full do but on the other hand,

1:02

Advent is an aspect of our

1:02

rootedness that kind of takes

1:05

all the roots together and puts

1:05

them into a season for us of

1:09

anticipation. So we are rooted

1:09

in evidence. So in another way,

1:13

we're kind of continuing on the

1:13

series. So we're sticking with

1:15

the series name are rooted in

1:15

anticipation or anticipating in

1:19

this season. So my name is Andy,

1:19

Vanessa's here with me again.

1:24

And happy Advent again. And we

1:24

thought it'd be fun to talk

1:29

about why we named the podcast

1:29

bear with me. Yeah, because

1:33

maybe it's not obvious. Yeah.

1:33

Maybe it's not obvious yet. It's

1:37

only our second episode. That's

1:37

true. So

1:42

what? Why? Why

1:42

did you come up with that?

1:44

Well, we were so we were in the we were in the table Radio studios. Yeah. Like,

1:46

like we are. And we were about

1:53

to record and we thought we kind

1:53

of need a name for this podcast,

1:55

because that's what people do.

1:55

They name podcasts. And so we

1:59

were brainstorming names. And I

1:59

don't remember exactly how it

2:05

happened. But that one came up.

2:05

Yeah. And it just sort of stuck.

2:10

And the reason

2:10

why I loved it is because I'm a

2:13

nine on the Enneagram. I'm

2:13

confused. Are you a nine or a

2:16

five?

2:18

I think I'm a nine.

2:19

You do? Yeah.

2:19

Oh, I always thought you were a

2:21

nine. But recently, I heard you

2:21

talk like you're a five.

2:25

Like I talks using

2:25

a ama fiber like I talked and

2:28

you thought oh, you sound like a five?

2:29

No, you

2:29

identified yourself as a five

2:32

really? Yeah. Everything off for me.

2:34

That's funny,

2:34

because I don't I don't know.

2:37

What's the five?

2:38

Oh, like the

2:38

ones who need a lot of study and

2:41

knowledge and resources in order

2:41

to

2:45

like those things.

2:45

Yeah. But okay. No,

2:48

maybe it was a dream.

2:50

Is there there's

2:50

like wings on those things? Yes.

2:52

Five, a wing for nine. No?

2:52

Nothing.

2:56

Okay, you're a

2:56

nine. So this is all the better

2:58

because one of the blind spots

2:58

for the nine I took an Enneagram

3:02

course. And she said the blind

3:02

spot for the nine is that

3:05

sometimes you lose people in

3:05

your meandering explanations?

3:11

I think we're losing people right now. I

3:12

do too. That's

3:12

why we say bear with me. Oh, I

3:17

get it. Back.

3:18

Yeah. That's

3:18

when you said that. I thought

3:21

that's like the perfect phrase

3:21

for me because I'm self

3:23

conscious about talking because

3:23

I'm gonna lose people because I

3:26

don't quite know what I think I

3:26

see. And it takes me a long time

3:30

to get there with me. Bear with me. Yeah.

3:32

Yeah, that was

3:32

that was that fit really well, I

3:35

think for both of us, because I

3:35

think we tend to like to just

3:38

start things. Low key, and we'll

3:38

work out the kinks as we go.

3:43

Yeah,

3:43

I'll see that as we go.

3:43

That's how it came up last week.

3:46

Bear with

3:47

me. We're figuring

3:47

it out. We don't have a title

3:49

yet. Just bear with me. And, and

3:49

then it just really fit with the

3:54

theme. Yes. of Advent and what

3:54

what our pilot episode topic was

4:01

exactly which was, which was in

4:01

this case. Mary bearing a child,

4:09

Yes, God born of

4:09

a woman, a virgin.

4:13

And we're going to talk a bit about more about that today. And, and just thinking

4:15

about the the nature of our

4:20

show, which we'd like to be

4:20

integrating belief and practice

4:24

in the Christian life bearing

4:24

with one another, as the New

4:28

Testament tells us to do think

4:28

of bearing with Christ and the

4:35

yoke, the easy yoke of how that

4:35

sounds, how do we get into the

4:38

easy yoke as an image? So all

4:38

those things kind of conflated

4:43

into this idea of bearing

4:43

burdens together, bearing the

4:47

burden of of Christ, which is

4:47

supposed to be freedom. Yes. And

4:52

have have a sense of ease about

4:52

it.

4:56

And you know

4:56

what, I just thought, Oh, also

4:59

Uh huh. A huge part of life is

4:59

learning how to bear with

5:01

ourselves. Like we are the main

5:01

thing God has given each of us

5:06

to steward. Some of us have

5:06

kids, some of us don't have

5:08

kids. But we all have ourselves

5:08

like you have little Andy and

5:14

middle aged dandy. And soon to

5:14

be elder Andy, to learn how to

5:20

be with for your whole life.

5:20

Like there's a real there's a

5:25

there's a reality there that I

5:25

have to bear with myself. Yes,

5:28

more than almost anybody else

5:28

you could say. So bear with me

5:32

is kind of a cool way to express

5:32

that that is part of life is

5:38

learning how to be with

5:38

ourselves. And doing it with

5:41

others. I mean, my favorite word

5:41

in that title is probably with

5:46

because with just makes

5:46

everything better. It's why

5:50

people come to church are one of

5:50

the reasons it's why a is so

5:54

it's why we decided to do this podcast together because we're doing our

5:56

own thing. Exactly. And we

6:00

didn't like it. Yes.

6:02

It wasn't that good. At

6:02

least mine.

6:05

Yeah, it's it's

6:05

easier to do things together

6:08

with other people. And then you

6:08

just have conversation is just

6:12

seems like a way easier thing.

6:12

Yeah, I have to come with a

6:15

monologue. Yeah. Basically

6:15

taught by myself and to myself.

6:18

Yeah, it's not

6:18

the way we are designed. No.

6:21

This is way more

6:21

fun. Yeah. And easier. Easier

6:26

yoke. Yes. Okay. So, Mary, we

6:26

talked about this last time,

6:36

Mary has a unique role in

6:36

bringing, getting a role in

6:40

bringing about God's kingdom.

6:40

And she is known, especially in

6:46

the Eastern Church as the god

6:46

bearer, theatre costs. That's

6:52

the there's the five unbecoming.

6:52

Look at right study, never heard

6:56

a medic study there. But it just

6:56

means literally means God bear.

7:03

Or we can think of it as the

7:03

Christ bear is maybe a bit more

7:06

easier translation for for some

7:06

of us. And that kind of

7:13

transitions us into kind of our

7:13

first big topic of today is

7:19

talking about the significance

7:19

and meaning of Mary, being the

7:23

god bear. In what, if anything,

7:23

does that mean for us? So I was

7:28

thinking about this in in one of

7:28

the things interrupted anytime

7:32

for NASA. Sure, right. But one

7:32

of the things that struck me in

7:37

in kind of reflecting on this

7:37

passage, and last, we looked at

7:40

Luke one Luke Chapter One last

7:40

time, and it's where Gabriel

7:44

comes to Mary and gives the

7:44

announcement. And and Mary is

7:53

betrothed. She's not married.

7:53

And so there's, there's some

7:58

challenges there. And it's

7:58

picked up more and Matthews

8:01

Matthew's Gospel, because that

8:01

one talks a bit about Joseph's

8:05

response, who, who plans to

8:05

divorce her quietly, because of

8:12

what's happened, but he doesn't

8:12

know, then he has to have his

8:14

own kind of angelic visit to

8:14

know that no, he's not to do

8:17

that. He's to us to marry her

8:17

and, and all the rest. But it

8:25

sort of points to this, I think,

8:25

an inverted experience for Mary,

8:29

where because of what the angels

8:29

announcement and what God is

8:32

doing in her, she will

8:32

experience shame. In her

8:38

cultural and social context, and

8:38

her setting she is going to

8:41

experience the shame of being

8:41

with child outside of marriage.

8:46

Yeah, that is so weird.

8:49

And yet juxtapose

8:49

to that is the is the grace that

8:56

she's bringing through her role,

8:56

like the, the incredible grace

9:01

that of God's God being with us

9:01

through her as as a willing

9:06

participant in a servant in this

9:06

case, and those two ideas

9:10

together that she is, in a more

9:10

literal sense, bringing God with

9:15

her wherever she goes. And she's

9:15

going to give birth to this one

9:19

and going to raise this one in

9:19

her home. And she is the steward

9:24

of such immense grace with such

9:24

a mark of shame to go with it.

9:31

I've never really thought about that before.

9:35

That crazy Yes.

9:35

And no, maybe there's not in the

9:43

episode we talked about last

9:43

week but the when she went I

9:50

think it's after Jesus is born.

9:50

And they take him to the temple

9:55

for the dedication. And I think

9:55

it's it's Simeon. I think you'd

10:01

go back and check, but I think

10:01

it's Simeon, who who blesses the

10:04

child and prophesize over him.

10:04

Yeah. And, and gets this glimpse

10:10

of the significance of this

10:10

child who it is, and talks about

10:14

a sword piercing Mary's Heart

10:14

seemed like the overlapping

10:19

ideas of like the both the joy,

10:19

and the pain and sorrow, mix

10:23

together of being in her unique

10:23

role as getting to be this one's

10:31

mother, wow. In the world, in

10:31

light of all the goodness and

10:36

the grace that this one brings,

10:36

but also the sorrow and the the

10:40

darkness that's going to come.

10:40

Wow, Andy, I think this is a

10:44

big, big ideas, but they're

10:44

also, I think, helpful metaphors

10:48

of way into the Christian life.

10:48

Because there's a sense in which

10:52

this is unique, and maybe a one

10:52

off thing. But there's also a

10:55

sense of this is, this is the

10:55

nature of God's Kingdom in the

10:58

world that we are participating

10:58

in. And if we are in any sense,

11:02

God bears, like Mary or Christ

11:02

bears, then can we participate

11:08

in both sides of this, the glory

11:08

and the grace of it, and the

11:13

goodness, but also, maybe

11:13

bearing some shame. Maybe having

11:19

bearing some sorrow and

11:19

darkness, also as a fruit, which

11:25

is not something you always get

11:25

advertised in the Christian

11:29

life,

11:29

no. Andy, that

11:29

kind of blew my mind because I

11:35

knew we were talking about God

11:35

bears, but I only was thinking

11:39

of the, the bright sides of

11:39

that, like the, the good parts

11:45

are, quote, unquote, good. Like

11:45

the invitation to be the hands

11:51

and feet of God in the world.

11:51

But I hadn't thought about the

11:57

reality of bearing God as also

11:57

an acceptance of you know,

12:05

wherever there's great love,

12:05

there's sorrow. And whenever I

12:10

have risked truly loving, it

12:10

means that I'm susceptible and

12:18

vulnerable to pain, and hurt and

12:18

loss. And so I just hadn't, I

12:24

hadn't put those two together,

12:24

that part of baring God in the

12:28

world is being willing to be

12:28

hurt, which is the definition of

12:31

vulnerable, it means the

12:31

capacity to be wounded. So

12:35

there's such vulnerability and

12:35

there's such power and joy.

12:40

That's the side I was thinking

12:40

of was the, you know, I grew up

12:46

in my dad was a pastor. So

12:46

something that hasn't been super

12:51

helpful for me was kind of

12:51

adopting this worldview as a kid

12:55

that I have an obligation as a

12:55

Christian to never say no to

13:03

anybody. Because I'm like a

13:03

pastor's kid. You're a pastor's

13:08

kid to me.

13:08

Yeah. We're both

13:08

nines, roll pastor kid. Wow.

13:11

Bear with us.

13:11

It's like the kind of the

13:17

obligation to be the image of

13:17

God, at church and in your

13:22

world. As an elementary school

13:22

kid and teenage kid something

13:25

about that. I'm hoping to do a

13:25

little bit better now as an

13:30

adult with a kid. Not that my

13:30

parents didn't do a good job,

13:34

it's just having experienced it.

13:34

So this the the obligation to be

13:40

God to other people, like the

13:40

pressure, if you're a pressure

13:44

susceptible person, isn't

13:44

totally helpful. What is helpful

13:48

to me is the invitation. Like,

13:48

for me waking up to the reality,

13:53

that the little things might

13:53

matter. That instead of thinking

14:00

you, you bear God, if you go to

14:00

a foreign country and be a

14:05

missionary, to say, No, there's

14:05

an invitation in whatever spot

14:11

in life, I'm in whatever stage

14:11

of life, whatever vocation or

14:14

career I find myself in, at the

14:14

moment, there's an invitation

14:17

there to be the hands and feet

14:17

of God. Yeah. And it reminds me

14:24

Shane Claiborne, tells the story

14:24

about being with Mother Teresa

14:27

and the sisters in India. And

14:27

every morning they would I

14:32

forget what kind of prayer they

14:32

did, but it was some kind of

14:34

silent, contemplative prayer. I

14:34

think they took you the

14:38

Eucharist every every morning,

14:38

and kind of soaked in silence,

14:44

and there's all these needs

14:44

around them and I'm totally

14:48

butchering the story, because I

14:48

don't remember but it was

14:50

something like him asking why do

14:50

you do this? Like why do you

14:52

spend this time doing nothing?

14:52

Like an hour or whatever? And

14:57

the answer was something along

14:57

the lines of we're soaking up

15:02

the presence and the love of God

15:02

because of all the needs. And it

15:06

just reminds me of like charging

15:06

our phone overnight, you know,

15:09

we're like, Ooh, got to charge

15:09

my phone, like we need it on

15:11

full power. And so that's where

15:11

I was thinking about about

15:16

bearing God was the idea of kind

15:16

of plugging in to God in a

15:22

regular way. So that throughout

15:22

our day, at the post office,

15:27

when we see a neighbor, when we

15:27

talk to a co worker, we're kind

15:32

of poised and ready for this

15:32

invitation. Like you never know.

15:37

You might be full of attention,

15:37

love, imagination,

15:42

encouragement, ideas, that

15:42

actually make a difference to

15:47

someone else, and then make your

15:47

day better to like, life is like

15:52

full of opportunity. With that

15:52

mindset, not the obligation,

15:57

when not don't make any

15:57

mistakes, perpetually be

16:00

available to anyone who wants to

16:00

talk to you about anything,

16:02

right, because you're a pastor's

16:02

kid. Not that way. Yeah. But the

16:06

invitation.

16:07

Yeah. Like an

16:07

imagination shift. Yeah, that

16:11

this is initially what I thought

16:11

of, when we first talked about

16:13

the idea or the topic was being

16:13

having an awareness. vocation of

16:21

calling of, this is who I am,

16:21

this is who I am. And this is

16:29

what I do in the world as I bear

16:29

God with me, I bear Christ with

16:32

me wherever I go. And just as a

16:32

first step in awareness of that,

16:40

yes, not, oh, I need to do X, Y,

16:40

and Zed. Yeah. Like Mary didn't

16:49

need to do anything. Right? She

16:49

said, Yes. Let it let it be. She

17:02

was supposed to call the child's

17:02

name Jesus. Right? In terms of

17:07

explicit instructions.

17:07

Everything else is sort of it's,

17:15

it's going to happen. You will

17:15

go, you will be a full

17:19

participant, but not in terms

17:19

of, oh, I have to, here's a

17:24

checklist of things to do. Now

17:24

you are going to bear the Son of

17:27

God. Wherever you go, and when

17:27

you walk in the room. You're

17:33

bringing this presence with you.

17:33

Yeah. And in the next episode,

17:37

we alluded to it last time, but

17:37

so much so that Elizabeth child

17:43

leaped in the womb, John leaps

17:43

in the womb, in the Spirit is at

17:47

work there. Wow. And so there's

17:47

things so an awareness that

17:51

things are happening, that if,

17:51

if you are in Christ, then then

17:59

there is a there is a there's a

17:59

shift that has happened, and

18:03

that we have this this reality

18:03

of bringing God with us where we

18:10

go. And even just being as I

18:10

think for our only goal, I think

18:16

was just like that first step of

18:16

awareness. Yes. It's like, okay,

18:20

let this is an imagination

18:20

shift. It was a worldview shift.

18:24

I think that that we were not

18:24

always aware of or thinking

18:28

about. That seems important.

18:31

I love that. I

18:31

love that you said awareness is

18:33

the first step. And it feels

18:33

like plenty of work to just keep

18:40

working on the awareness bit.

18:40

Yeah. And trusting that the

18:44

fruit of it or whatever we would

18:44

call it kind of comes from that.

18:50

Yeah, yeah, it's

18:50

so much so I mean, when when I

18:56

go to prepare a sermon, and this

18:56

comes from my training at

18:59

trained for preaching under

18:59

Darrell Johnson. And, and he, he

19:05

was always very careful in a

19:05

very helpful way. When you

19:08

prepare sermons, you have to

19:08

make sure that you're not giving

19:11

rules for people to just kind of

19:11

follow because it's not the

19:15

gospel. Right. And and if

19:15

there's elements of obedience,

19:23

which is important. It you have

19:23

to be able to show how obedience

19:28

is also a way of saying trust.

19:28

Yes, like, here's the way that

19:34

God is at work in the world. How

19:34

can I participate? How can I

19:37

trust in that? Yeah. And so

19:37

getting away from the the

19:40

dutiful slave to the

19:40

participating child, maybe is a

19:46

way of kind of shifting the

19:46

metaphor a bit. I think

19:52

servanthood metaphor can still

19:52

be helpful. Yeah, yeah. But, but

19:57

for a lot of us, I think we

19:57

sometimes we kind of can

20:00

approach spirituality as a list

20:00

of to dues and to not to dues?

20:05

And it's it's much bigger than

20:05

that. I think those are, those

20:09

are sort of implications of a

20:09

much larger trusting

20:11

relationship. Yeah. Right. And I

20:11

think that's, that's kind of

20:16

what we're getting at here is

20:16

like, how do we shift our, our

20:20

AR imagination? I guess?

20:23

Yeah, you just

20:23

made me think about your opening

20:28

about how this invitation for

20:28

married a bear, Christ was

20:36

socially not cool, you know, to

20:36

be pregnant outside of marriage,

20:43

and how, you know, I can't

20:43

relate with that exact one, like

20:48

getting pregnant before I was

20:48

married, or something like that,

20:50

or the equivalent of that, what

20:50

that would be now. But that's

20:55

kind of radical to me that God

20:55

would sanction such a confusing

21:00

social situation for her, and to

21:00

say, bear with me here. You

21:07

know, like, there's, there's

21:07

something bigger than what this

21:11

looks like, or I trust you with

21:11

this. And I'm not I'm not

21:15

worried about you, in the long

21:15

term, suffering this trauma of

21:20

like, social uncleanness, or

21:20

whatever. So it just makes me

21:24

wonder about all the little ways

21:24

that I might disqualify myself,

21:30

or my situation in life, or my

21:30

career, or my mood, or my

21:35

personality. And just think,

21:35

like, Well, God's definitely not

21:40

in that, you know, or I got it,

21:40

I have to get better, or I have

21:43

to change jobs, or I have to

21:43

become more of an introvert or

21:48

be nicer to my kids before I can

21:48

have this awareness. Or before I

21:53

can bear God in the world,

21:53

right, as a parent or a wife or

21:57

a friend, when kind of what

21:57

we're talking about is it's

22:01

already there. It's not

22:01

something we like muster up.

22:06

It's it's the audacity to trust

22:06

that God is

22:10

in within that

22:10

trusting obedience might make

22:13

you look bad.

22:15

That is weird. That's a

22:15

hard one. That's hard. Like

22:19

that's,

22:20

it might make us

22:20

look bad too. too. Do also any,

22:27

any, I might make you look bad

22:27

to conservatives. It might make

22:31

you look bad to liberals, it

22:31

might make you look bad to other

22:36

Christians might make you look

22:36

bad. I mean, there's no nothing

22:40

really off limits. In terms of

22:40

the potential

22:44

that is so, so

22:44

intriguing. One immediate

22:48

example that comes to mind is

22:48

when I mean, you know, this so

22:52

well, from being a pastor, when

22:52

people who are involved need to

23:00

say no, for a season, yeah, to

23:00

something. Yeah, that is an

23:03

example that comes to mind.

23:03

Like, you know, we've been part

23:07

of those conversations, and have

23:07

probably been there ourselves in

23:10

certain ways, where like, you're

23:10

all excited about something and

23:15

you feel like this is a great

23:15

opportunity for me to learn how

23:17

to help or serve or lead or

23:17

whatever. And then you're paying

23:22

attention to your life

23:22

holistically. And you feel like,

23:26

I need to step back from this

23:26

position or something for a

23:30

time. But it can feel really

23:30

counterintuitive to the types

23:34

that come to church to say, this

23:34

is weird, but I actually think I

23:39

need to say, Yeah, because one

23:39

time,

23:41

you're right, because we want to, we want to we want to equate obedience with

23:45

doing stuff like yeah, doing

23:51

this or that or serving in this

23:51

way. Yeah. But it may not always

23:58

be so yeah. It would make sense

23:58

that there's seasons of saying

24:02

yes to things and saying no to

24:02

things. Because we can't just

24:08

keep adding things.

24:10

Yeah. We try.

24:10

Oh, I try. That's my go to is to

24:15

add to my list. So maybe we

24:15

could come back to this and try

24:21

to think of other practical

24:21

implications. Or applications

24:27

for what it means to Yeah, be

24:27

God bears.

24:32

Yeah, right.

24:32

Bearing I just jotted down some

24:37

idea, like just the idea of

24:37

bearing God, wherever we go in

24:41

our neighborhoods and our

24:41

families, being aware of this in

24:45

our places of work and our

24:45

school wherever, wherever we go.

24:48

I think of the Great Commission

24:48

at the end of Matthew 28. He

24:58

says Go into all the world

24:58

preach the gospel baptizing.

25:06

discipling basically. But that

25:06

word in the original Greek Yeah,

25:14

Andy, which I don't know what it

25:14

is, or remember what it is, I

25:17

just remember the the tense of

25:17

it or the impulse of the word go

25:22

isn't, that's not the main

25:22

imperative. Go out somewhere and

25:27

do this work. It's, it's the

25:27

main imperative is, is on the

25:32

the discipling on the preaching

25:32

on the on the work, the verb to

25:36

go, it means as you go, as

25:36

you're going through life,

25:40

wherever you find yourself do

25:40

this work, it's the same idea of

25:44

your bearing my presence with

25:44

you. And that's the point that

25:49

his presence is supposed to go

25:49

anyplace and bring light into

25:55

dark places, whether that's in

25:55

your family, at your work at

25:58

your school, where you

25:58

volunteer, whatever you're

26:03

doing, there's nothing is off

26:03

limits. I am to you are to be

26:07

doing this. bringing me with you

26:07

wherever you go.

26:11

Andy, that

26:11

should be the way it's

26:13

translated as you go. That's so

26:13

much better.

26:18

I mean, I'm not.

26:18

I'm not a Greek scholar. Okay.

26:21

But supposedly people who are

26:21

Yeah. Know this. As you go as

26:28

you're going,

26:30

as you go about

26:30

your day as you go about your

26:32

job.

26:35

Yeah, I think for a lot of us an important mind shift back to your point about,

26:37

oh, well, it's the people who

26:39

are going to these places to do

26:39

this special work. Right. But

26:45

the emphasis is much more on the

26:45

day to day know, as you're going

26:48

through life. Yeah. Do these

26:48

things? Well, to our point,

26:53

bring, be aware of my presence

26:53

with you. Yeah. And let, let's

26:57

just start with that mind shift

26:57

that imagination shift. And

27:00

we'll let we'll tease out the

27:00

implications as they come up.

27:03

Because maybe that moves us to

27:03

prayer. For other people, maybe

27:07

that moves us to TOS any other

27:07

any other routes we've been

27:11

talking about in this table

27:11

series, a love that reaches out

27:14

and does something that isn't

27:14

afraid to fail at trying

27:17

something different. I think

27:17

that's for a lot of us. That's,

27:20

that's those are the barriers,

27:20

right? It's like, well, I don't

27:23

know how to do that. Well, what

27:23

if I'm rejected, with? It's a

27:26

dumb idea, you know, whatever it

27:26

is, wow.

27:30

You're reminding

27:30

me to that one of the best parts

27:35

about spiritual direction, maybe

27:35

people don't know what spiritual

27:38

direction is, but meeting with

27:38

someone to talk about your life

27:43

with God. Like one of the main

27:43

rich benefits of that is just

27:51

offering someone your undivided

27:51

attention. Like, I mean, therapy

27:56

similar, like you go in and you

27:56

pay them and part of this

28:00

exchange is that in therapy, so

28:00

you have someone's undivided

28:04

attention, for you to process,

28:04

and for them to look at you and

28:08

to listen to you and to ask

28:08

questions. And they have a whole

28:11

bunch of amazing knowledge that

28:11

can help you process. But even

28:17

thinking about the dynamics of

28:17

spiritual direction in the

28:21

world, like, you know, I school

28:21

drop off and pickup as a main

28:27

part of my daily life. So

28:27

there's that you're just around

28:32

kind of acquaintances. And the

28:32

idea of bringing awareness and

28:40

attention while you're talking

28:40

to people, right? It's kind of

28:43

radical for me. Yeah. You know,

28:43

to think that it is, it's

28:47

radical in the world to actually

28:47

look at someone while they're

28:50

talking to you, and to try to

28:50

listen to what they're saying.

28:53

And then to sometimes reflect

28:53

back to them what you see, like,

28:56

oh, wait, why did you just say

28:56

that? Or? Yeah, what were you

28:58

gonna say, you know, they're like, nevermind, and you're like, No, I'm actually engaged,

29:00

like, what were you? What were

29:03

you gonna say? That kind of

29:03

presence to me is an example of

29:08

baring God, like, just trusting

29:08

that the little things like we

29:13

talked about having the eyes and

29:13

or the hands and feet of Jesus a

29:16

lot, you know, and I think of

29:16

when we had to move out of our

29:19

apartment, and the idea of

29:19

cleaning, the house alone made

29:24

me want to disappear and die.

29:24

And then women from the table

29:28

came and helped me clean and it

29:28

was like the hands and feet of

29:32

Jesus. You know, like, this

29:32

night overwhelmed me so much

29:36

clean. I don't know how to clean

29:36

an oven or behind a fridge. And

29:39

I have to clean this in like

29:39

seven hours before the next

29:41

tenants or whatever. And having

29:41

five women they're like joking

29:45

and cleaning with this. It was

29:45

Jesus. Not very disguised at

29:49

all.

29:51

Very well. disguised.

29:53

I just could

29:53

have cried the whole time. But

29:56

so I think of hands and feet all

29:56

the time, but I think eyes and

29:59

ears Like how can we be the eyes

29:59

that that watch people when they

30:04

talk and share? Yeah. And how

30:04

can we be the ears that listen

30:08

that just listen to people are

30:08

not adding any time to our day?

30:12

Just the quality of being in the

30:12

world? Yeah, goes up a couple

30:17

notches. And that gets called a

30:17

difference. That's

30:19

a huge one. I mean, being seen and heard. Yeah, some people don't feel

30:21

that at all. Or don't get that

30:24

at all.

30:24

Yeah. So I've

30:24

made all the difference in my

30:27

world when I'm seen in hurt I

30:27

feel like we've been talking a

30:31

lot should we? What how are we

30:31

doing are gonna ring the bell?

30:35

Yeah, I forgot I'm gonna get

30:35

about the Benedict Bell.

30:44

Yeah, we wanted to

30:44

talk about an aspect of, of

30:49

bearing God with us or Christ

30:49

with us. A practical aspect,

30:54

like a discipline something that

30:54

we can do. Because some people

31:00

are into that practical

31:00

application. love that stuff.

31:04

Vanessa, for example, you like

31:04

practical application? So we

31:08

want to talk about Scripture

31:08

memorization? Right? Yeah,

31:12

that's gonna be like just me saying that's gonna be major turnoff for like, a lot of

31:13

people. Yes, script

31:16

memorization. I know, that's not

31:16

very spiritual, memorizing

31:20

things.

31:22

Or it's the

31:22

opposite. I think people have

31:24

flashbacks to like sort drills

31:24

or something sort

31:27

drills. This is

31:27

exciting. I'm suddenly have

31:29

this,

31:30

like, force Tom

31:30

bible camp. You know, like, what

31:35

is that what they're called?

31:35

It's like John 316. In the first

31:38

one to raise their hands. Yeah.

31:38

Or raise their Bible in the air

31:41

and recite John 316. Yeah, it's

31:41

a point. Yeah. And the person

31:44

with the most points is the most Christian.

31:46

Oh, like there had

31:46

a title.

31:48

Or you know, that's,

31:48

that was the conversation. Yeah.

31:52

You actually get

31:52

like, a thing that you were

31:55

running next, as most Christian,

31:56

you might get a

31:56

stash or something and like, a

31:59

boy scouts patch. They were

31:59

called something like sword.

32:03

Okay, I think people could be

32:03

turned off because it sounds

32:06

super kind of moralistic, maybe

32:06

legalistic, churchy,

32:13

otherworldly, like who memorizes

32:13

scripture like it feels to me in

32:17

a way, like the person on the

32:17

street corner who's not very

32:21

engaged with reality, and is

32:21

preaching at you. That's the

32:25

That's the bad side of it. Yeah.

32:25

So what's the good side? Oh, my

32:29

gosh, let's go to the good side.

32:29

Okay.

32:34

I think, I think

32:34

when I think about it, I think

32:40

about this image of, of, of how

32:40

closely Jesus is tied to the

32:47

word, both in his own life, he

32:47

clearly knows it. But also

32:51

theologically like the

32:51

scriptures, there's a close

32:54

connection between God and His

32:54

Word like, and I think it has to

32:59

do with the idea that God

32:59

doesn't lie, that that he tells

33:04

the truth, that he is able to

33:04

represent himself through his

33:08

words. And his words are so

33:08

potent, and so powerfully you're

33:12

actually getting his presence,

33:12

his presence is tethered to His

33:15

words, this, this comes out, as

33:15

you read through from Genesis to

33:18

Revelation. This is a consistent

33:18

theme in Scripture that God's

33:22

presence is tied to his words,

33:22

so much so and so potent and

33:25

powerful as his words that that

33:25

it, that it becomes an image

33:32

Josh shared this in the first

33:32

ever think of our routed series.

33:37

That becomes an image in Jesus

33:37

Christ. In the beginning was the

33:42

Word and the Word was with God,

33:42

and the Word was God. Wow. And

33:47

he's tabernacled among us, and

33:47

we've beheld as glorious as John

33:51

one. Right? So there's this

33:51

close association, that, that if

33:57

we're if we're connected and

33:57

really tied to the word in a

34:01

deeper way, that we that there

34:01

is, there is something of God's

34:06

presence in Christ presence,

34:06

come and dwells with us. In

34:10

through the words, right? Yeah.

34:10

It's complicated because even

34:15

what you said about the

34:15

Scripture, memorization, there's

34:20

an idea of, of Bible poetry that

34:20

we're using the Bible as like,

34:26

as a weapon almost, yes. Sword

34:26

battles, sword drills. And I get

34:33

that I think there's a danger,

34:33

just as there's always a danger

34:35

for us to misuse anyone's words

34:35

and abuse someone else's words.

34:41

Yeah. Like, did you hear what

34:41

Vanessa said about you? Yeah.

34:45

And misrepresent maybe what you

34:45

said or take it out of context

34:48

or use it in a way that you did

34:48

not intend that feels off? We

34:51

can do that. Yeah, we have the

34:51

capacity to do that. But that is

34:54

not a good reason. Nor is it an

34:54

excuse to no longer listen to

34:58

Vanessa. Well, because her Words

34:58

can't be taken out of context. I

35:01

shouldn't I should just stop

35:01

listening to her. That doesn't

35:04

make any sense. But I feel like

35:04

some of sometimes we can use

35:07

that as an excuse. Like, ah, I'm

35:07

more into. I connect with Jesus

35:12

in other ways. Yeah. But this is

35:12

the way that God has chosen to

35:15

disclose himself. Yeah. So

35:20

yeah

35:26

there's a loud

35:26

car going by so waiting this is,

35:30

this is

35:30

part of just grins

35:30

brings us back to reality.

35:34

That's a great basis. were you gonna say something else?

35:38

Just that I kind

35:38

of already said the these are

35:42

the words of life. Words of God

35:42

words of Jesus. They have a

35:51

potency to transform us. So I

35:51

think we neglect them to our

35:57

peril. Yes. But I won't be all

35:57

doom and gloom. So you take it

36:03

away? Oh, I'm the good cop.

36:03

Yeah. Wow. Obviously, was that

36:09

not clear?

36:12

I think of you as the

36:12

good cop in most situations. So

36:15

it's weird that maybe we're both

36:15

good cop types.

36:17

Oh, yeah. It's not

36:17

gonna work. Yeah, so dynamic

36:19

that does not really exist.

36:19

Okay. Yeah.

36:26

What were you gonna say? Well, I

36:27

just, the point

36:27

is, how can we come to the

36:30

scriptures for a deeper

36:30

listening? Like, the idea of

36:35

consuming something like you?

36:35

And it's good way in Scripture.

36:40

Yeah. But it's in a good way. Because consumerism, right doesn't

36:43

feel like buying

36:43

something No, like, Can like

36:46

taking something into yourself

36:46

that actually sustains you

36:49

transforms you.

36:51

Yes. Wow. Yeah.

36:51

So scripture, memorization has

37:00

been really good news for me.

37:00

Like, it's, it's really been

37:04

life giving to me, it hasn't

37:04

been something that, like, if

37:08

I'm, if I was more spiritual,

37:08

I'd memorize more scripture, so

37:11

that I'd look better in

37:11

conversation. Like, that route

37:15

does not sound good at all. But

37:15

sometimes you hear pastors who

37:20

know a lot of Bibles and or

37:20

Bibles, they know a lot of

37:23

verses, you know, and it, it can

37:23

make you feel like but so

37:30

getting back to the good news

37:30

part, partly because I, I have

37:34

heard the Bible for a long time,

37:34

it's very easy for me to read a

37:39

passage or hear what the sermon

37:39

is going to be on, and kind of

37:43

subconsciously to now, or say,

37:43

Oh, I already know this one.

37:47

Like, we're going to do Mary and

37:47

Martha, we're going to talk

37:50

about the prodigal son. And I'm

37:50

like, why don't want like

37:53

prodigal son, I've been there,

37:53

I've done that. I hope other

37:56

people don't have that kind of

37:56

instinct. But with anything

38:01

you're really familiar with you

38:01

can, I can really take something

38:04

for granted the people and the

38:04

words that I'm very familiar

38:07

with, and the Bible is one of

38:07

them. So scripture memorization,

38:11

for me as an adult has been a

38:11

way for it to come alive. So

38:17

kind of the opposite. Like

38:17

instead of writing it off, it's

38:20

allowed it to come alive. And I

38:20

think one of the reasons is

38:24

because we are in a in an age

38:24

with so many words and

38:29

resources, like you can find an

38:29

interesting article or podcast.

38:34

Oops, that's what we're doing on

38:34

anything. And just think that if

38:39

you take more and more and more

38:39

and more and more in you'll be

38:42

better, you'll get better you'll

38:42

know more. When in reality, my

38:46

system my like inner system just

38:46

gets overloaded and I don't

38:49

retain almost everything I get

38:49

things don't sink in. So

38:54

scripture memorization is taking

38:54

something smaller. Yeah. And

38:58

then sitting with it for a week

38:58

instead of reading seven

39:02

articles on Mary and Martha.

39:02

It's it's memorizing the Mary

39:06

and Martha Martha story or

39:06

something. Yeah. And then, like

39:09

you shared last week, some weird

39:09

word or phrase just comes to

39:15

life in a way that I could not

39:15

have forced if I had my

39:18

highlighter out in my like, 10

39:18

minute like Bible reading

39:21

session, you know? Yeah, because

39:21

it comes out like in the shower,

39:25

it comes out while talking with

39:25

someone. Yeah, I wrote down a

39:28

few that have been meaningful

39:28

for me like things I memorized

39:32

that I you know, eventually was

39:32

like, Oh, my gosh, one of the

39:36

first ones was from Hebrews six.

39:36

I memorized a passage. And this

39:43

was when I started going to

39:43

orange theory, which is an

39:46

exercise place because I hate

39:46

exercising. So it's really

39:50

useful psychology that if you

39:50

pay in advance to say I will

39:53

come to one class a week to give

39:53

you don't come you paid for it.

39:57

So you're

39:57

saying that you

39:57

should pay for it. A class on

40:00

memorization of Scripture. I

40:00

didn't even think of that fit.

40:03

Yes. And then people, then we'll

40:03

do it. Yeah, more. We would.

40:07

That's perfect.

40:07

Well, so So I paid for this

40:10

exercise class, so I had to go

40:10

once a week. But I dreaded going

40:14

because it seemed like a waste

40:14

of time. Like, who just runs on

40:18

the treadmill for 30 minutes. So

40:18

that's when I started memorizing

40:21

again, was I thought, if I'm

40:21

have something kind of memorized

40:25

that I can rehearse on the

40:25

treadmill. I'm kind of going to

40:27

redeem the time a little bit.

40:27

Yeah. And it seems like flat

40:31

time like, well, just just,

40:31

you're just running. Yeah. So

40:36

one of the first things I

40:36

memorized was was from Hebrews

40:39

six. And one of the lines that

40:39

you know, didn't mean anything

40:43

to me at first and overtime,

40:43

came to mean something. To me.

40:47

It was it's something like, we

40:47

who have taken refuge are

40:52

strongly encouraged to seize the

40:52

hope set before us. Just sounds

40:56

like Bible words. Yeah. sees the

40:56

hope set before us. Then it

40:59

occurred to me sees means like

40:59

you choose to go and get

41:05

something. Yeah. which I had not

41:05

thought of hope, like that I

41:09

thought of hope is something

41:09

like you earn or that falls on

41:12

you, or that you wait for I

41:12

didn't think of hope as

41:17

something that God was saying.

41:17

You're going to have? I'm asking

41:20

you to choose and to take hope.

41:20

Yeah, not wait for it to not to

41:25

feel hope from the inside out,

41:25

which doesn't happen much in the

41:29

world we live in. So it was just

41:29

a little like cease hope was

41:33

something that really came to me

41:33

more to me like two weeks in

41:37

right to rehearsing it. Yeah.

41:40

Yeah, that's

41:40

really that's really good. I, I

41:42

makes me think of it makes me

41:42

think of actually a practical

41:53

way of baring God with us is, is

41:53

taking his words into us and

41:57

letting them letting have like,

41:57

just be in our bones. Yeah. Be

42:02

in our hearts be in our minds.

42:02

Saturate us, I guess, yeah.

42:07

Marinate in a good way. I want I

42:07

just I'd wrote down just like,

42:14

my process, love it of

42:14

memorization. And then I think

42:18

you've got an exercise for us.

42:18

And they'll they'll wrap up our

42:20

time, I think, yeah. But we, in

42:20

my lifetime, I have noticed

42:27

we've gone from a habit of

42:27

memorizing, to a habit of not

42:32

memorizing, you are correct.

42:32

Like, there's certain

42:37

technologies that now exist that

42:37

did not exist. I don't know if

42:40

everyone's aware of this, when,

42:40

you know, 30 years ago. And I

42:45

used to have probably a dozen

42:45

maybe 15 Phone Numbers

42:52

memorized.

42:54

And phone numbers are the worst things to memorize just a random

42:55

assortment of numbers. I think

42:59

the psalms are hard to memorize

42:59

because it's like, so flowery.

43:03

You know, like, the tense of the

43:03

heavens of the stretching of the

43:09

like, oh my gosh, there's so

43:09

many adjectives in this. But

43:13

numbers

43:14

was memorizing

43:14

numbers. We don't memorize as

43:18

much stuff anymore now. And

43:18

that's just one example. But but

43:21

we still do like you You brought

43:21

before we started recording the

43:24

song lyrics, quote, remember

43:24

quotes, quotable, like

43:27

rememberable quotes and stuff,

43:27

that that impact us or we'll

43:31

sing songs all the time that we

43:31

know. Oh, yeah. Musics an easy

43:33

way to kind of remember things

43:33

over and over again. But so

43:38

anyway, I just mentioned that because I think there might be for a lot of us a learning curve

43:40

to this. You're right should not

43:42

discourage us. You're right.

43:42

It's like, okay, we've gotten

43:45

out of the habit. Generally, as

43:45

a people who memorize things,

43:48

yes, we I'm here to tell you

43:48

that we can get back into the

43:52

habit, you are right. And it's

43:52

it's not a lost cause. Now, I

43:58

want to, I'm just going to give

43:58

you a few brief things, this is

44:00

how I memorize Scripture. And

44:00

the first thing is very

44:03

important is selection. Because

44:03

if you're like me, one thing

44:07

that can keep you from moving

44:07

ahead in a discipline is the

44:12

paralysis of not knowing where

44:12

to start.

44:16

Totally, there's a lot

44:16

of Scripture. Yes.

44:19

There's a lot.

44:19

Right. And so if you're like,

44:21

I'm gonna memorize a portion of

44:21

Scripture today, so I can just

44:25

have God's words in me and let

44:25

them see if God you know, kind

44:29

of engage with God a bit.

44:30

decision fatigue

44:30

randomly. Oh, shoot, it's

44:33

a big Bible. Yeah.

44:33

So a good place to start is

44:36

what's called a lectionary. And

44:36

these are easy to find online.

44:41

It's lectionary is just the

44:41

readings through the church

44:44

here. That's a great place to

44:44

spot if you want to be on God

44:46

time as well. And if you don't

44:46

know what I mean by that, check

44:49

out our last episode. Yeah, bear

44:49

with me episode one. But that's

44:55

an easy place to start. And

44:55

they've got readings for every

44:57

single day, multiple reasons but

44:57

readings So pick one, pick

45:01

something out of the Gospels is

45:01

a good place to start one of the

45:05

readings out of the Gospels, you

45:05

could just do the Sunday

45:09

readings. Once a week or one,

45:09

you know, however you want to

45:15

start, but do something that or

45:15

pick the sermon series in your

45:19

local church. Oh, what's coming

45:19

up? What did they just preach

45:23

on? Or what did we just what was

45:23

the discussion about? Or a few

45:28

days ahead of time? That could

45:28

even be great? Because then

45:30

you're coming? Oh, yeah, soaked

45:30

in it. That would be cool. And

45:33

then you can interrupt the

45:33

preacher like, Excuse me? You

45:38

use the wrong preposition there.

45:38

Yes, actually, this or whatever

45:41

you however you like to interrupt.

45:43

Or Andy, on

45:43

selection. Sorry to interrupt.

45:45

No. Oh, good interruption.

45:45

Honestly, one of the prayers God

45:48

always answers, I think would be

45:48

if we said, God, I'm open to

45:54

memorizing something, but I

45:54

don't know where to start. Could

45:57

you show me this week? Something

45:57

to memorize. I feel like God

46:01

would be like, well, greenline

46:01

like, yeah, like I will. I will

46:07

bring something to you through

46:07

someone. Yeah. If you actually

46:11

want to know. Yeah,

46:12

that's Yeah,

46:12

great. Or if you if you have a

46:15

devotional at home, based in

46:15

Scripture, use those. Basically,

46:22

the point is, I need some system, or else I'll get paralyzed. Totally. I don't want

46:24

to have to think about I don't

46:27

want to spend energy. I want to

46:27

spend my energy on the thing

46:29

that's hard. Not on the thing

46:29

that doesn't need to be hard.

46:32

Good point, Andy.

46:35

And then the

46:35

actual practice one, it does get

46:37

easier. I get better at it over

46:37

time. Yeah. Like, if I'm in the

46:40

habit of it, then I noticed I

46:40

get faster actually memorizing a

46:43

paragraph

46:44

of the Bible.

46:44

Yeah, it's it's a muscle and it

46:46

gets better with use.

46:48

So be patient.

46:48

Give yourself some time. And

46:52

then I just do one part of the

46:52

time. And so it should be

46:56

especially to get pretty short

46:56

section of scripture. Like the

47:00

the the Mary episode we talked

47:00

about last week is I think 12

47:03

verses. So I wouldn't go much

47:03

longer than that. And that that

47:07

story, that narrative is a good

47:07

place to start. Because it's

47:09

kind of it's a bit easier to

47:09

rather than starting with like

47:12

an epistle like Oh, letter from

47:12

Paul or Peter or something. For

47:17

me anyway, the story structure,

47:17

because there's more images

47:21

there to kind of help remember.

47:21

Yeah. And one part at a time.

47:26

Like one very small part of the

47:26

time. Yes. And then another

47:29

small part? Yeah. In the six

47:29

month. Okay. In the six month.

47:33

Yeah. The angel Gabriel, the

47:33

angel Gabriel. Okay. In the six

47:38

month Angel Gabriel. Yes. can

47:38

seem slow in mechanical and not

47:41

very spiritual. Yeah. It's gonna

47:41

feel not very spiritual. That's

47:46

an important distinction. Yeah.

47:46

But I think, I think that is

47:50

very spiritual practice. And the

47:50

first goal for me is just

47:56

getting the whole thing. And

47:56

it's gonna feel it might feel

48:00

very counterintuitive, not very

48:00

special. It's just, it's some

48:04

work like, Okay, I want to get

48:04

the whole thing. Okay, I've got

48:07

the whole thing. And when I've

48:07

got it, and I can go over it and

48:09

not have to work too hard at

48:09

remembering it. Now, it's easy

48:12

to remember. That's the goal

48:12

getting there. Because that's

48:15

when when it's easy to recite,

48:15

that's when I feel like the

48:19

magic happens. Yes, where now I

48:19

can just think about it any

48:23

place, I go in the shower,

48:23

laying on my bed, when I can't

48:26

sleep in line at the grocery

48:26

store, as I'm shopping at the

48:29

grocery store, you know, things

48:29

that don't require mental

48:32

driving. Instead of turning on

48:32

the radio or listening to the

48:37

next bear with me episode, I can

48:37

say, Oh, maybe I won't pop

48:41

something on maybe I'll go over

48:41

it in my head and just kind of

48:44

slow down and think about why.

48:44

Why is he using those words?

48:49

Yeah. So I shared last time,

48:49

that's when I slow down enough

48:53

to think about in the six months

48:53

or less in relation to med go

48:56

back and open my Bible go back.

48:56

So I didn't memorize the first

49:01

chapter one, like what is this?

49:01

Oh, it's, it's the only option

49:06

is it's in relation to

49:06

Elizabeth's pregnancy. Yeah. And

49:09

then that kind of that's where I

49:09

started thinking about the

49:15

Kairos time the god timing type

49:15

stuff and how we measure time,

49:20

you start asking other questions

49:20

like why, why such a focus in on

49:28

an on the Orient, Luke's

49:28

orienting us and naming things

49:31

the angel Gabriel sent to a city

49:31

in Galilee, named Nazareth to

49:37

aversion patrol to a man whose

49:37

name was Joseph of the house of

49:39

David and the virgin's name was

49:39

Mary. It's like all this like,

49:42

yeah, choreography of is is Luke

49:42

and then you start asking

49:45

questions. Well, why that is

49:45

Luke emphasizing Mary's low

49:48

status, because he's naming the

49:48

man in house he's in Oh, naming

49:52

the city and where it but oh, by

49:52

the way, the mayor is the

49:56

virgin's name was Mary. But

49:56

she's going to have a central

49:59

role in this against all

49:59

expectation. Yeah. Right,

50:02

because this is how God likes to

50:02

work. bring light and dark

50:05

corners type thing. So all these

50:05

things come bubble up, when I'm

50:09

slow down enough to memorize it

50:09

and think about it throughout my

50:13

day or throughout my week. And

50:13

then and then that's where I

50:19

start to sense. Okay, God is

50:19

shifting my imagination for how

50:22

he works. God is speaking to me

50:22

specifically about the the

50:26

nuances of my family life, or my

50:26

work life or this relationship I

50:30

have with this person, because

50:30

now I'm seeing it through new

50:33

eyes.

50:34

Yes. When you

50:34

describe it, it's like that's a

50:37

tool. Why would I not use that

50:37

tool? It just sounds too good to

50:40

be true.

50:42

It's i I showed

50:42

last time I feel like we're at

50:45

least in this season. That's the

50:45

primary way I sense God speaking

50:49

to me is scripture.

50:49

memorization, is when I slow

50:53

down enough. And scripture

50:53

memorization, I think is just a

50:56

tool to get to that spot of

50:56

slowing down and listening for

50:59

me like, yeah, it maybe maybe

50:59

some people can get there just

51:03

by reading their scripture,

51:03

reading the Bible slowly. But

51:06

for me, I it forces me to slow

51:06

down and go back over it in a

51:10

way that is fresh. And I hear

51:10

things that I didn't hear

51:14

before.

51:16

And it's a real

51:16

non striving, way of learning.

51:20

Yeah, because it doesn't happen

51:20

when we are like, gritting our

51:25

teeth. It happens while we're

51:25

doing the dishes, like while

51:28

we're, we're like, not redeemed,

51:28

but it gives meaning to like the

51:33

rest of our lives that I tend to

51:33

discount. Like all this stuff is

51:37

like necessary evil. Okay, when

51:37

you were talking about the, for

51:42

the like, just memorizing the

51:42

mechanical way. Yeah. You

51:45

reminded me that Stephens, an

51:45

actor? You know, I do know that.

51:50

So he memorized

51:51

partials out,

51:51

right. Yeah, he does. Put them

51:54

in the show notes.

51:56

That'd be fun.

51:56

So enacting it's called where

52:00

you memorize by rote first. And

52:00

so the idea is you memorize

52:04

without an effect or meaning or

52:04

trying to figure it out or any

52:08

sense. Yeah. So he just in so he

52:08

has me when I have to read with

52:12

him for an audition. I just have

52:12

to read by rote. So instead of

52:15

of being like, Chaisson don't do

52:15

that, you know, I have to be

52:19

like, Jason, don't do that. And

52:19

then he does it. And he's, it's

52:23

a discipline to not to not go to

52:23

that next level yet. Because the

52:28

first level is memorizing by

52:28

rote. It's really restraining

52:32

yourself and saying, This is a

52:32

mechanical part. Once I have

52:35

this by rote, yeah. Then once

52:35

it's in you, then you're free

52:39

for it to come to life as an

52:40

actor. Yeah, you

52:40

can do for my expert. I'm not an

52:44

actor. So applying that to the

52:44

Scripture memorization, it's

52:47

like, okay, now I can start to

52:47

inhabit this text, I can start

52:50

to be there with Mary in that

52:50

moment, and try to have a more

52:55

of an imagination for what's

52:55

happening. what's being said.

52:59

Yeah, yeah, that resume

53:00

comes to life.

53:00

But I love that you highlighted

53:03

don't expect that from the

53:03

beginning. You need a half an

53:07

hour walk or something for the

53:07

the rote time. And then there's

53:12

rehearsing that happens. And I

53:12

just want to show you these are

53:15

my flashcards people can't see

53:15

them, but they, so it has like

53:19

the scripture on one side. Okay,

53:19

and then, you know, the actual

53:24

one on the back,

53:24

but some we take

53:24

some pictures and put them put

53:27

links to the search people get

53:27

an idea,

53:29

because and I

53:29

bring these with me, because the

53:32

other truth is, is that you do

53:32

forget, like I do forget ones

53:37

that I memorized six months ago.

53:37

Yeah. Like I only really

53:39

remember the one that I'm in

53:39

plus, like someone or something,

53:43

right? Like the Lord's Prayer,

53:43

we still know by heart. So

53:46

eventually, these I can all know

53:46

by heart at all times. But

53:50

refreshing them is really easy.

53:50

Like I just forget how to start.

53:54

And then I'm like, oh, Second

53:54

Timothy, one is this. Yeah.

53:58

That's good point.

53:58

I mean, I think there is a value

54:01

in just having this repository

54:01

in my head in my heart. Yeah,

54:05

that but you're right. It's

54:05

someone with me. Like, I can't

54:07

remember what has been rising

54:07

six months ago? No, but it's

54:10

probably an easy refresher if I

54:10

wanted to very easy and bits and

54:13

pieces. Like I remember parts of

54:13

Scripture that maybe I wouldn't

54:16

have remembered. Yeah, but I

54:16

think for me, the primary goal

54:19

is, is hearing the voice of

54:19

Jesus today. Yes, that's the

54:25

primary goal. That's the primary

54:25

goal. Like those are good, like

54:28

secondary goals like, oh, I can

54:28

I kind of remember, if I'm

54:32

having this time, it makes me

54:32

reminds me of this portion of

54:35

Scripture. That brings me back

54:35

to it or whatever. Or if I'm in

54:40

the middle of a sword, drill

54:40

drill, then maybe that's really

54:45

great. Yes, a sash or something.

54:45

Exactly. Oh, man, but what I

54:52

want today is I want to hear the

54:52

voice of the living God in my

54:55

life for me and for those that

54:55

that I'm with, and that's that's

54:59

the point for me of

54:59

memorization.

55:03

That that's the

55:03

main goal to me too is the now.

55:06

Yeah, part that coming to life

55:06

today. Okay, do you do you

55:10

accept this sword drill said I'm

55:10

about to put you. Okay, let's do

55:14

it. Okay, so what I wanted to do

55:14

was prove to anyone listening

55:19

who actually is in a space where

55:19

they could mumble under their

55:23

breath. I want to prove to you

55:23

that you can memorize so

55:27

quickly, one verse. So I didn't

55:27

tell Andy the verse, but I want

55:33

to have him memorize in real

55:33

time, this one verse, just as a

55:37

way to show that it's possible.

55:37

So if you're out there, and you

55:42

are in a place where you can,

55:42

you know, repeat after me with

55:46

Andy, please do so. Okay. This

55:46

is a really beautiful little

55:50

verse that you've never heard

55:50

before. I've never heard this

55:52

verse. Wow. I mean, that's my

55:52

guess.

55:57

Okay, are you ready? Other than the Apocrypha or

55:59

no, it's from

55:59

Isaiah 50. Oh, verse four. Okay.

56:03

Does that sound familiar?

56:04

Well, I know that

56:04

I, Isaiah sounds familiar.

56:07

Chapter 15 Verse four says, but

56:07

put them all together and I

56:10

don't know.

56:12

Okay, are you ready? That was the first line. There's a lot of alliteration in

56:14

this one. So that helps a lot,

56:17

right. That's why the psalm says

56:17

that we're across sticks. We're

56:21

across six because it's way

56:21

easier to memorize something

56:24

that's ABCDEFG

56:25

but it's like rustic in Hebrew. So you have to learn Hebrew first and then

56:27

it'll be easier.

56:30

DoorDash can

56:30

memorize Psalm 119. Right? We'll

56:33

just do this. Okay, so the first

56:33

line, the Lord God has given me

56:39

the tongue of a teacher. Repeat

56:39

after me, Andy.

56:43

The Lord God has

56:43

given me the tongue of a

56:46

teacher.

56:47

Yes, the Lord

56:47

God has given me the tongue of a

56:50

teacher.

56:52

The Lord God has

56:52

given me the tongue of a

56:55

teacher.

56:55

That's correct.

56:55

That I may know how to sustain

57:00

the weary with a word

57:02

that I may know

57:02

how to sustain the weary with

57:06

the word with our with our word.

57:06

So they may know how to sustain

57:11

the weary with a word.

57:13

Yeah, so weary

57:13

with a word. Three W's and

57:17

tongue of a teacher. Yeah. So do

57:17

you remember

57:20

Okay, the Lord has

57:20

given me the tongue of a

57:22

teacher, that I may sustain the

57:22

weary with a word so close.

57:27

The Lord God has

57:27

given me the tongue.

57:31

This is great.

57:31

Yeah, this is exactly how it

57:33

happens. Like oh, I forgot I

57:33

dropped a word. Yeah, I changed

57:36

the word Yeah. The Lord God has

57:36

given me the tongue of a teacher

57:41

that I may sustain the something

57:41

of the weary the way the

57:50

great okay? And

57:50

it's that I may know how to

57:54

build I may know how to sustain

57:54

the weary the weary with a worth

57:58

toward the weary with a word

57:58

that I may know how to sustain

58:02

the weary with a word from the top

58:03

that I may know

58:03

how to sustain the weary with

58:05

the word, the Lord God has given

58:05

me the tongue of a teacher that

58:09

I may know how to sustain the

58:09

weary with a word Can you do it

58:12

again? The Lord God has given me

58:12

the tongue of a teacher that I

58:17

may know how to sustain the

58:17

weary with a word

58:20

rate next part

58:20

is more Morning by morning he

58:24

wakens wakens my ear

58:27

Morning by morning

58:27

he awakens weakens my ear.

58:31

So there's two

58:31

mornings and two weakens.

58:35

Morning by morning he awakens

58:35

dash wakens my year.

58:41

Morning by morning

58:41

he awakens wakens my year

58:47

yes. Double

58:47

Double awakens there can you do

58:50

it from the top?

58:51

The Lord God has

58:51

given me the tongue of a teacher

58:55

that I may know how to stay

58:55

sustain the way the weary with a

58:59

word. Yes. Morning by morning.

58:59

He wakens wakens my year Yes.

59:09

Really? There was yeah, no

59:09

mistakes. No mistake. Okay.

59:11

Okay, there's

59:12

one last line that's really surprising.

59:14

Okay.

59:15

Morning by

59:15

morning awakens wakens my ear to

59:17

listen as those who are taught

59:20

to listen as those

59:20

who are taught. Can you do more

59:24

and more every morning? He

59:24

wakens wakens my ear. I

59:30

completely forgot

59:31

to listen. As those who

59:31

are taught to listen as

59:35

those were taught

59:35

Morning by morning he awakens

59:37

wakens my ear to listen as those

59:37

who are taught Morning by

59:41

morning he awakens wakens my ear

59:41

to listen as those who are

59:45

taught Do you think you can do

59:45

from the beginning? The Lord God

59:49

has given me the tongue of a

59:49

teacher that I may know how to

59:57

that I may know how to sustain

59:57

the We're here with a word. Yes.

1:00:01

Morning by morning he wakens

1:00:01

wakens my ear.

1:00:06

Got it to Yes.

1:00:11

To listen Yes. Has

1:00:11

a deer pants for what to shoot?

1:00:17

No. It's okay to listen as those

1:00:17

to listen as those who are

1:00:24

taught to listen as those who

1:00:24

are taught so

1:00:27

Morning by

1:00:27

morning God is opening my ear to

1:00:30

listen as someone who's ready to

1:00:30

learn basically to listen as

1:00:34

those who are

1:00:35

taught and as

1:00:35

those who are taught to listen

1:00:38

as those who are taught

1:00:40

to and taught to enter

1:00:40

begins taught to listen as those

1:00:44

who are taught.

1:00:45

The Lord God has

1:00:45

given me the tongue of a teacher

1:00:50

that I may know how to sustain

1:00:50

the way know how to sustain the

1:00:58

weary with a word. Yes. Morning

1:00:58

by morning. Morning by morning.

1:01:07

He awakens wakens. Might year

1:01:07

yes. That I may learn. Right.

1:01:15

No. To to listen. Yeah. Like or

1:01:15

as as to listen as those who are

1:01:23

taught? Yes. Okay. And so I

1:01:23

would keep so that wouldn't make

1:01:27

that's two verses. Yeah, it's

1:01:27

one or two. Okay. So that's a

1:01:31

good example of that's probably

1:01:31

that's been five minutes of

1:01:33

working right? Yeah. And I don't

1:01:33

fully have it yet. But I'm

1:01:36

close. Yeah. And probably

1:01:36

another minute or two and I

1:01:39

would have that section. Yeah.

1:01:39

And then typically, I'd probably

1:01:42

have maybe twice that long. For

1:01:42

Well, depends. I mean, you could

1:01:46

memorize short, short verses are

1:01:46

great. And well, I

1:01:48

think auditory

1:01:48

memorization is even harder when

1:01:51

you're looking at it. Yeah, it's

1:01:51

you have the visual tool to help

1:01:57

you recall because, you know, I

1:01:57

saw the alliteration and that

1:02:00

made it easy wakens my ear to

1:02:00

listen as those who are taught.

1:02:05

And if you write out the verse,

1:02:05

that's another level. You get it

1:02:09

through writing it out, then you

1:02:09

get it through visual, and then

1:02:12

you get it through hearing

1:02:12

yourself. Repeat. But Andy, you

1:02:14

did great. Thanks, Vanessa.

1:02:14

Yeah. Isn't that a great verse

1:02:18

though it is, Lord God has given

1:02:18

me the tongue of a teacher who

1:02:21

does not want to sustain the

1:02:21

weary with a word. Everyone's

1:02:24

tired. Yeah, I would love to be

1:02:24

able to have the awareness to

1:02:29

encourage you with the words of

1:02:29

my mouth when I see you and I

1:02:32

see that you're haggard or

1:02:32

something, or that you're

1:02:35

overwhelmed. That's so

1:02:35

beautiful. Morning by morning,

1:02:37

he awakens wakens my ear to

1:02:37

listen as those who are taught

1:02:41

every day, it says to me, that

1:02:41

God has given me the capacity to

1:02:46

wake up and to be aware, and to

1:02:46

live the life God's given me.

1:02:52

And I can just be a perpetual

1:02:52

learner in it. That makes life

1:02:55

so exciting.

1:02:56

That does make

1:02:56

life so exciting. We're out of

1:02:59

time. Yeah, we got to we got to

1:02:59

stop. Oh, gosh, it's been good.

1:03:02

Okay. But we, we had some other

1:03:02

things we will save it for next

1:03:05

time. I think next time, don't

1:03:05

hold us to this. But next time,

1:03:09

we want to talk about spiritual

1:03:09

consumerism, and that great

1:03:15

disconnect, and the great

1:03:15

disconnect so that a great

1:03:18

disconnect is a documentary.

1:03:24

It's Canadian

1:03:24

made documentary on loneliness

1:03:27

and neighborhoods in

1:03:27

neighborhoods and, and I thought

1:03:30

maybe technology's role in that

1:03:30

and isolation. We're gonna find

1:03:35

out we're viewing it at noon.

1:03:37

Let's documentary reviewing at noon. So we're gonna talk about next time.

1:03:39

Okay. Thanks, Vanessa. Thanks,

1:03:44

Sandy. It was fun again. Yeah,

1:03:44

two in a row. Yeah, who would

1:03:47

have thought? And thank you for

1:03:47

listening. If you like what you

1:03:52

hear you got ideas for future

1:03:52

shows, please email at us at

1:03:55

Bear with me at table church.ca.

1:03:55

And we don't want to do the work

1:04:02

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1:04:02

work. So we don't want to do the

1:04:04

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1:04:04

better podcast. We want you to

1:04:06

tell us as a well, we're new at

1:04:06

this. So take your

1:04:10

considerations. Yeah, who knows?

1:04:10

Check out the show notes for

1:04:14

resources and links we mentioned

1:04:14

in this show. And any other

1:04:18

bonus items we throw in there

1:04:18

who knows I have some some

1:04:21

really great stuff in there.

1:04:21

Right? Bear with me is a table

1:04:25

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1:04:25

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1:04:29

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1:04:29

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1:04:32

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1:04:32

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1:04:36

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